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Beijing - China said on Wednesday that ties with Taiwan could "collapse" if the island refuses to recognise the framework that has underpinned negotiations between the two rivals for more than two decades.
The remarks by Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, came in response to comments three days earlier by Tsai Ing-wen, the island’s leading presidential candidate, that there were other options for negotiations with Communist Party leaders.
Ma said in Beijing that the so-called 1992 consensus that they both belong to one China was a core concept that couldn’t be questioned.
Without the understanding, "the institutionalised cross-strait dialogue mechanism will be affected and could even collapse," Ma said in the agency’s first briefing since the debate at which Tsai made her remarks.
"The ship of peaceful development would meet rough seas and could even sink."
A spokesperson for Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Taiwan’s ties with China have come under closer scrutiny as the democratically ruled island prepares to elect a successor on January 16 to President Ma Ying-jeou, whose rapprochement policy culminated in an historic meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November.
Opinion polls have for months shown Tsai, whose party officially supports independence, holding a wide lead in the race.
The Communist Party, which still considers Taiwan a province, passed a law in 2005 allowing an attack if the island formalises the split.
Tsai’s remarks in the debate came after she was pressed by Eric Chu - the candidate of Ma’s Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party - to clarify her position on the issue.
"As long as we have sincerity, communication, I believe cross-strait relations can be stable," Tsai said.
"The 1992 consensus is one option, but it’s not the only option. It is inappropriate to continue to frame it as such."
